Thursday, 8 March 2012

Empowering Women to take the plunge on International Women's Day

Today is the 101st International Women’s Day and once again marks a global celebration of female achievements and success. Whilst there have been huge strides made in enabling and empowering strong female candidates to put themselves forward for local and national elections, the facts remind us all that still much more needs to be done. Globally, women hold only 19 per cent of the world’s parliamentary seats and in terms of leadership, just 16 of the world’s 188 directly-elected leaders are female.

These statistics show that women need to be encouraged to choose a career in politics, put their names forward as potential candidates and take the plunge. There has never been a better time for young females interested in politics to get involved and begin their political journey in the Conservative Party.

With the recent launch of Conservative Future Women, new recruits have a strong organisation, with a huge membership base to enable them to move forward with their careers.

The Conservative Party has a long and proud history of supporting strong female leaders at all levels of the organisation. Groups such as the Conservative Women’s Organisation and Women2Win have been created specifically for that purpose, with the resources and training facilities to empower the next generation of female politicians. But these resources are not simply slogans or gimmicks to please the press – our groups work around the clock to help candidates network and excel in their careers.

One only has to look at the challenges facing figures like Emmeline Pankhurst to help women win the right to vote to see the tremendous achievements women have delivered to shape our democratic system. International Women’s Day does much to remind us of the huge shortfall of female politicians across the globe and this can only change if more women put their names forward. On a day when we celebrate everything women have achieved so far, it’s time for aspiring politicians to look forward and take action to turn their dreams into reality.

To get involved or learn more about Conservative Future Women please look at their website here

You can follow them on twitter @CFWomen and like them on facebook here